Aahctober

October 2013

Pickaway to Garden

Aahctober

By Paul J. Hang

Aah, October. Is there a better month?  Bright skies, cool weather, falling leaves, Indian Summer, the Pumpkin Show, Halloween, all arrive this month. The growing season and the year is winding down. The days are getting shorter, we’re losing the light, but the days are still bright. October seems to be a pause in time, a maturity of the year, a ripeness, an achievement. It reminds me of the feeling of being called in for supper as a boy on a summers evening. My enjoyment is interrupted but not over. It’s not like the feeling of being called in to bed, that’s November.

Halloween comes at the end of the month, a holiday that celebrates being scared, with its frightening symbols of corruption and death. By then (average first frost October20th) we normally have had a killing frost that ends all tender plant growth. The leaves, recently green then blazing into the colors of fall, are falling and cover the ground. Nature seems on its last legs. Corpses of vegetation lie all around us ready to rot and decay. What to do with all this dead matter?

Rake the leaves, pull out the dead plants, pile them up and let natural processes do their thing. In reading Michael Pollan’s latest book, Cooked I came across this  “…the microbes that do this work for us, the bacilli and fungi, are denizens of the soil, on temporary loan to the aboveground world. They splash onto leaves, find their way into milk, drift onto seeds and flesh, but ultimately they are on a mission from the soil, venturing out into the macrocosm--- the visible world of plants and animals we inhabit---to scavenge food for the microbial wilderness beneath our feet.” Pretty scary huh? Just imagine those invisible forces reaching up from the underworld to snag the unwary and drag us down to their dark, dank grave of the dead.

Am I talking about composting? Yes, those creepy sounding bacilli and fungi rise up from their graves and transform the dead to something life giving . What is the difference between a compost heap and a pile of rotting vegetation? If you consult Ohioline.osu.edu to find out more about composting you will find this definition. “Composting is the biological decomposition of organic waste under controlled conditions to a state where storage, handling and land application can be achieved without adversely affecting the environment.”  So composting is controlled conditions of natural decomposition. A pile of rotting vegetation is natural uncontrolled decomposition. Neither need be scary.

If you simply pile up leaves eventually they will turn into compost. Scientific composting controls the recipe of brown and green matter and introduces oxygen into the mix. It will heat up to a temperature that will kill off pathogens. Compost will happen quickly under the right conditions. On the other hand piling up leaves and dead un-diseased vegetation will eventually turn into healthy compost . “Compost happens”. This uncontrolled process may take years and may not get rid of all plant diseases but the end result from either process makes for a great soil conditioner, what gardeners call “black gold.” So, don’t be scared, rake up those leaves into a pile in a hidden grave and let them rest in peace.

Things to do in the garden:

Hot caps and covers should be made handy in case a frost or freeze is forecast. Remember that the coldest temperature usually comes a little after sunrise. The earth radiates heat away and the sun hasn’t climbed high enough to begin heating us. You might still save some plants even if you slept in after it became light. Often we have a few more weeks of growing weather after the frost. Saving your veggies may enable you to extend the harvest.

Consider bringing in the houseplants that you put outside this summer if you haven’t already. Make sure you don’t bring in any bugs with them; a good blast of water from your hose can wash most of them off. Bring the pots into a sheltered spot for a week or so to help the plants acclimate before shocking them with the warmer temperatures of your home.

Dig up your tender corms and bulbs as soon as they are frostbitten. Dahlias, caladium, glads, tuberous begonias and cannas should be dug and stored in a cool dry place. Most basements are too warm.

You can still divide day lilies and iris. Cut back the iris leaves to four-inch fans. Stop feeding your roses but don’t stop giving them water. Consider cutting back your roses halfway. If you have dormant roses you can still plant them.

Spring bulbs can be planted as soon as you get them. Plant them at a depth three times their length; place some bulb food in the hole with them. For a better display plant them in groups, not single file. Now is also the time to plant garlic and shallots.

If you planted trees this year protect the trunks with hardware cloth or the plastic wrap for this purpose from gnawing rabbits and other varmints. Even older trees can benefit from this if you’ve experienced this damage in the past.

In you don’t  accumulate a lot of leaves consider just shredding them with the mower and leave them scattered on the lawn.